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Trivia: Musical Terms

Subject : trivia
Instructions:
  • Answer 50 questions in 15 minutes.
  • If you are not ready to take this test, you can study here.
  • Match each statement with the correct term.
  • Don't refresh. All questions and answers are randomly picked and ordered every time you load a test.

This is a study tool. The 3 wrong answers for each question are randomly chosen from answers to other questions. So, you might find at times the answers obvious, but you will see it re-enforces your understanding as you take the test each time.
1. Three note chords consisting of a root - third - and fifth.






2. Successive notes of a key or mode either ascending or descending.






3. A form of music written for marching in two-step time. Originally the march was used for military processions.






4. Word to indicate the movement or entire composition is to be played very slow and serious.






5. Curved line connecting notes to be sung or played as a phrase.






6. Repetition of a single tone.






7. A period in history during the 18th and early 19th centuries where the focus shifted from the neoclassical style to an emotional - expressive - and imaginative style.






8. The first violin in an orchestra.






9. A short or brief sonata.






10. A symbol indicating that the note is to be diminished by one semitone.






11. A musical scale having five notes.For example: the five black keys of a keyboard make up a pentatonic scale.






12. Written for 2 to 10 solo parts featuring one instrument to a part. Each part bears the same importance.






13. A piece of music written for two vocalists or instrumentalists.






14. A repeating phrase that is played at the end of each verse in the song.






15. A complex piece of music. Usually the first movement of the piece serving as the exposition - a development - or recapitulation.






16. The first tone of a scale also known as a keynote.






17. A sequence of songs - perhaps on a single theme - or with texts by one poet - or having continuos narrative.






18. A musical form where the principal theme is repeated several times. The rondo was often used for the final movements of classical sonata form works.






19. A group of 4 instruments - two violins - a viola - and cello.






20. One of the two modes of the tonal system. Music written in major keys have a positive affirming character.






21. A rhythmic succession of musical tones - a melody for instruments and voices.






22. A set of five musicians who perform a composition written for five parts.






23. A sequence of chords that brings an end to a phrase - either in the middle or the end of a composition.






24. The piece of cane in wind instruments. The players cause vibrations by blowing through it in order to produce sound.






25. Elaborate polyphonic composition of the Boroque and Renaissance periods.






26. The structure of a piece of music.






27. Three notes played in the same amount of time as one or two beats.






28. Music written for a lively French dance for two performers written in triple time.






29. A combination of two or more staves on which all the notes are vertically aligned and performed simultaneously in differing registers and instruments.






30. To shift to another key.






31. A piece of music played at the end of a recital responding to the audiences enthusiastic reaction to the performance - shown by continuous applause.






32. An instrumental lament with praise for the dead.






33. A 19th century square dance written for 4 couples.






34. The voice between soprano and alto. Also - in sheet music - a direction for the tempo to be played at medium speed.






35. The first tone of a scale also known as a keynote.






36. Music composed such that each note is used the same number of times.






37. Slow and stately dance music written in triple time.






38. The manner in which tones are produced with regard to pitch.






39. The intonation - pitch - and modulation of a composition expressing the meaning - feeling - or attitude of the music.






40. Harsh - discordant - and lack of harmony. Also a chord that sounds incomplete until it resolves itself on a harmonious chord.






41. The interval between two notes. Two whole tones and one semitone make up the distance between the two notes.






42. Male singers who were castrated to preserve their alto and soprano vocal range.






43. Piece of instrumental music played between scenes in a play or opera.






44. In sheet music - an instruction to repeat the beginning of the piece before stopping on the final chord.






45. A musical theme given to a particular idea or main character of an opera.






46. The principal note of a triad.






47. Short detached notes - as opposed to legato.






48. Unmusical - without tone.






49. Short movement or interlude connecting the main parts of the composition.






50. A symbol used in musical notation indicating to gradually quicken tempo.